Extracts from ELIXIR DIVINE

by Gurudev Sri Swami Sivananda



'I am the body' is ignorance. 'I am Pure Consciousness' is wisdom.

Religion is philosophy practiced in life.

Prayer is lifeless when there is no faith.

Wisdom dawns when names and forms vanish.

'Be Yourself' this is wisdom.

When the Divine virtues increase,
the mind will recoil from pleasures of the senses.

Purified by the fire of wisdom one attains the state of God.

With every experience you evolve a little.

Pride of renunciation is more harmful than pride of wealth.

Religion is the realisation that man, in essence, is God.

Fogs of worldly obscure the vision of God.

Begin each day as if it is the beginning of a new life.

Work done for the individual binds;
work done for the common good releases your soul.

Every little action has its effect on character.

The more we feel the presence of God, the more free we are.

Thy heart is the sanctum sanctorum. Install the Lord there and worship Him.

Love is its own reward and joy.

Creation is the appearance of the Lord, Who is one, as many.

Sow the seed of self-discipline. Water it with love.
Fence it with the Lord's Name. The tree will yield you the fruit of immortality.

Love is the healing stream of life.

Get up at dawn with His Name on your lips.
Do your duties with His Name in your heart.
Retire to bed with His Name on your lips.

Love alone can cure all the ills of life.

The lower mind is your enemy and the higher mind your friend.

Embrace poverty, chastity and humility.
You will attain immortality and eternal peace.

Make God your guide when you walk on the path of life.

When all desires of heart die, mortal man becomes Immortal.

Without prayer there is no purity.
Without purity there is no meditation.
Without meditation there is no illumination.
Without illumination there is no salvation.

He knows the world who knows God.

Brahman is the thread on which are strung all the worlds and all the beings.

Association with the wise is the root-cause for eradicating all misery.

The key to the gateway of perfection is purity.
The key to bliss is meditation.
The key to wisdom is Enquiry.
The key to Divine Ecstasy is devotion.

God generates, permeates, sustains, absorbs the universe.

He who hears the music of the Soul, plays his part well in life.

Love looks not with eyes but with heart.

Aim of spiritual life is not merely to know about God but to become God.

Check the outgoing tendencies of the mind and direct them inward.

Man is a bridge between the two worlds - the visible and the invisible.

Nature is the art of God.

A sage's look is a spiritual fire that burns the impurities.

Vanity makes one blind.

Be patient with others but impatient with yourself.

God reveals Himself in different ways at different stages of evolution.

A saint is the mightiest hero; for he has broken the unbreakable chain of Karma.

The elimination of ego is the sole condition of Self-Realisation.

God is the essential Truth in man.

We have in us the infinite possibilities of the Lord.

Fix the eyes on the feet of the Lord and direct thy hands in the service of humanity.

Bondage and liberation exist not in the Self but in the mind.

Repeat Hari. Never worry. Seek and find.
Feel and realise. Assert and Affirm. Aspire and Inspire. Move forward and Godward.

He who sows generosity, reaps love Divine.

God is a great artist. This world is his Masterpiece.

Love beautifies the giver and elevates the receiver.

Virtue is the offspring of wisdom.

Purity is the gateway to the kingdom of God.

Destiny is powerless before Divine Grace.

What is the greatest joy that never becomes distasteful? That is the bliss of the Self.

Meditation without dispassion is a wasted effort.

Life moves by faith alone. Without faith all will perish.

Religion is the art of re-modelling man into divinity.

Close the gates of the senses. Shut the door of the mind.
Light the lamp in the inner chamber of thy heart and
stand face to face with the Lord.

'God is in Heaven';
'The kingdom of God is within you';
'I and my Father are one'.
These are stages of spiritual attainment according to the Bible.

He only is advancing in life whose heart is getting softer,
whose blood warmer, whose brain quicker and
whose spirit is entering in living peace.

Sow love, reap peace; sow humility, reap reverence;
sow meditation, reap wisdom; sow prayer, reap grace.

Where there is no selfishness there is peace, joy and illumination.

Temptation is the test of spiritual growth.

Names and forms are many but the underlying consciousness is one.

OM is the matrix of all sounds and words.

Prayer and meditation are the food and water of the soul.

Mineness is the cause of all pains and sorrows.
Mineness is the essence of Maya.

Compassion is Divine Power.

A sage does not reject anything, does not crave for anything,
does not acquire anything, and does not renounce anything.

Humility draws in Divine Grace.
Faith draws in Divine Grace.
Surrender draws in Divine Grace.
Prayer draws in Divine Grace.

Develop faith, practice humility, pray regularly, and
surrender unconditionally unto His Will.

Divine Life bestows happiness, blessedness, goodness and godliness.

Behold the Light that lighteth everywhere.

You can develop will-power if you do what the mind
does not want to do, and do not do what the minds wants to do.

Remain unaffected by the ever changing mental Vrittis
by identifying yourself with the unchanging Self.

Let your eye look with kindness, your tongue speak with sweetness,
and your hand touch with softness.

Yield not to Tamas and Rajas.
Stick to Sattva. Get yourself rooted firmly in Samadhi.

Discontentment regarding wealth and pleasure causes one untold misery.
Therefore, be content with what you get by chance.

Let Dharma underlie your quest for enjoyments.

Have constant contact with your mind and intellect
through the eternal laws of God. The alone your life will have some meaning.

God walks with the simple, reveals Himself to the humble,
gives understanding to the noble, and hides himself from the proud.

Sadhana is the effort. Siddhis are the effects. But Self-realisation is the goal.
Practice rigorous Sadhana till you attain that Supreme Goal.

Prayer is the greatest and most efficient antibiotic to kill the germs of evil Vrittis
that germinate in the mind. Therefore pray regularly.

Love is the moving principle of all forms of fellowship. Love redeems.
Love transforms. Love purifies. Love promotes understanding.

God is with those who persevere patiently, and put away all earthly anxieties.

Life in spirit is real living.
You will lag behind if you depend upon your bodily life.

Glorious is the world of God around us but
more glorious still is the world of God within us.

Thoughts of God cheer up the body, mind and spirit. Names of God soothe the nerves.
Love of God bestows peace and joy. Knowledge of God breaks the fetters of Karma.

Peace is the fruit of fervent prayer.
Joy is the fruit of generous sharing.
Bliss is the fruit of intense meditation.

Wherever there is ignorance, there is neither faith, nor devotion, nor wisdom.

True satisfaction and contentment are attained only by a saint.

Objects do not bind you, but it is the desires that bind you.
Therefore annihilate desires.

Mineness is the fuel with which the fire of ignorance burns.
Stop the supply of fuel and the fire will be extinguished.

Karmas cannot be annihilated. They must be worked out.
But you can change your angle of vision by attaining wisdom
and detach your mind from their effects, good or bad.

Entertain noble, divine thoughts. You will have noble,
divine speech and perform noble divine actions.

Learn to see God everywhere. This is real food for the eye.

You can see better, hear better, taste better, think better,
when you entertain sublime, divine thoughts.

You are not a creature of time in the material universe.
But you are the spark of divinity. Assert this and roam fearlessly.

Mind turned inwards becomes the self, and mind turned outwards becomes the world.

Faith induces one to pray. Prayer purifies the heart.
In the purified heart is reflected the Light of the Lord.
When the light shines mortal becomes immortal.

Eradication of evil qualities in you is just like dusting away the dirt on a mirror.
When the dust is removed you can see the beauty of your face in the mirror.
When evil qualities are eradicated, you can see the beauty of the Self in your heart.

Desire of sensual pleasures keeps you tied to this world.
Grow the wings of Bhakti and Jnana and fly to the eternal abode of everlasting peace and joy.

Wealth lost can be replaced by work. Knowledge lost can be regained by study.
But time lost, can never be regained.

Be like a river. Dirt and filth of cravings and desires will be poured forth into you
from either sides. But by the constant flow of the water of devotion you will remain pure.

What sunshine is to flowers, prayer is to humanity.

Sorrows are like hunger, caused by spiritual starvation
and will be relieved only by spiritual food.

As sleep is necessary for the well-being of the body, so solitude at home
is necessary for the well-being of the soul.

Push out the king of lust, hatred and passion who has usurped
the throne of your heart and invite the righteous and rightful
monarch of love, purity and peace.

Wisdom never dawns upon the mind which is under the control
and mercy of desires and expectations and is destitute of contentment.

The mortal sheath craves for gratification of desires; the Spirit imposes discipline.
The mortal sheath is extrovert and noisy; the Spirit is introvert and silent.
The mortal sheath is subject to moods, but the Spirit is always peaceful.

There is no such thing as a bad man. Recognise the truth in him
and help him express it.

Those who are suffering now would know that they are reaping what they have previously sown, and by sowing good deeds now they can in future reap
a rich harvest of happiness.

Objects are only reflections in the Eternal Supreme Consciousness.

Just as rays of the sun are invisible but capable of illuminating objects,
Consciousness though invisible, illumines everything.

Perfect bliss is unconditional.

Just as we exist during the dream and survive the dream, so also
the Lord exists during the creation and survives after the dissolution.

Essence of Vedanta is Self-realisation.
Essence of Yoga is union with God.
Essence of Bhakti is communion of the Sakti with Lord Siva.

Every moment in the waking state that is free from thought is a state of Samadhi.
It is unnoticed because it lasts only for a fraction of a second.

When the beast in man perishes, the God in man manifests.

It is better to suffer loneliness than to be in evil company.

Prayer is the mystic bridge built across the gap between God and man.

No one can go through life without making mistakes.
Do not brood over the mistake. Repent for it; the forget it,
but remember the experience gained.

Happiness comes from within. It cannot come from without.

Happiness is in one's own Self, and not in objects.

Happiness comes when the individual merges with God.





Glossary


Bhakti: devotion

Brahma: God

Hari: The Hari Mantra, singing

Jnana: Transcendental Wisdom-Knowledge

Mantra: Sacred Name or Sound

Rajas: mode of passions (Fire&Water)

Samadhi: State of enlightenment

Sakti: Universal Feminine Energy

Sattva: mode of goodness (Air&Spirit)

Tamas: mode of ignorance (Earth)

Vrittis: Mind-Stuff, thoughtforms